Roy Morgan consumer confidence plumbs a new low

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From Roy Morgan today:

Consumer Confidence is at 108.1pts (down 1pt in a week) according to the Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Rating conducted last weekend on July 21/22, 2012. Consumer Confidence is now 0.1pts lower than it was a year ago, July 23/24, 2011 — 108.2.

The fall in this week’s Consumer Confidence has been driven by less confidence about all components of the survey except confidence regarding Australia over the next five years.

Australians’ confidence about Australia’s economy over the next twelve months is down 4% with 38% of Australians expecting ‘bad times’ economically over the next 12 months compared to 27% (unchanged) that expect ‘good times’.

Now 36% (up 3%) of Australians say their family is ‘worse off’ financially compared to a year ago while 29% (down 1%) say their family is ‘better off’ financially.

It seems nothing can turn the consumer around. Rate cuts are fading fast, even if spending has held up so far.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.